Activist urges City Council to join SB4 Bill after being threatened by Sheriff’s deputies

HOUSTON-- Activist Victor Ibarra held a news conference Friday to bring awareness to the unjust treatment of immigrants.

According to a press release from the Houston Socialist movement, Ibarra was driving to City Hall Tuesday when he was involved in a car accident. The Harris County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on the scene and learned that Mr. Ibarra did not have a driver’s license. They then proceeded to ask him about his legal status. When Mr. Ibarra invoked his constitutional right to answer-- until his attorney was present-- the deputies threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A statement was released on behalf of Ibarra that read in part:

"It was problematic for the Deputies to persist in questioning Mr. Ibarra about his legal status after he said he would answer only in the presence of his attorney. And it was unconscionable for the deputies to threaten to call ICE in the wake of a minor traffic accident. Mr. Ibarra does not believe he was targeted because he is a prominent activist. Instead, Mr. Ibarra views this incident as another awful example of the repression which affects many immigrants and which is likely to worsen unless Senate Bill 4 is gutted by judicial review," the Community Defense for All Immigrants and HSM said.